A DVD made by Charles Sturt University (CSU) television production students documenting the lives and experiences of respected members of the West Wyalong Aboriginal community will be used in schools across NSW as part of the state’s Aboriginal education policy. The 20 minute DVD West Wyalong Wiradjuri will be officially launched at West Wyalong High School (WWHS) on Thursday 14 August at 11am. Filmed in West Wyalong, the DVD documents the childhood, schooling and family experiences of four West Wyalong locals and what it means to grow up as an Indigenous person. Third year television production student and DVD producer Ms Gemma Thornton was assisted with camera work and sound and lighting by other CSU students. “I learnt a lot about Indigenous culture and also about dealing with West Wyalong High School as a ‘client’, which is invaluable experience for getting a job after university,” she said. WWHS’s Ms Jenene West said it was essential to capture local people talking about their lives in the local region. “There is no point in showing school children a DVD about Arnhem Land as it just isn’t relevant. It’s important that they can relate to the location,” Ms West said.

Ms Rebecca Turnbull, a medical science and applied biotechnology student from the the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Wagga Wagga Campus, was chosen as CSU representative to the inaugural Australia-India Universities Youth Forum in July. The forum drew together almost 60 Australian and Indian university students. Highlights included a sustainability leadership training program in Sydney, a three-day eco-tour of outback Australia, a tour of a biodynamic organic farm near Canberra, and workshops with the City of Sydney’s Sustainable Sydney 2030 project team. “Each participant brought a different area of expertise from their university education; from engineering to teaching, languages to economics, architects and town planners and those in science and biotechnology,” said Ms Turnbull. “We were constantly consulting our fellow student experts which reinforced the concept that sustainability affects us all, regardless of occupation and origin.”

Charles Sturt University (CSU) agricultural science student Mr David Gale, from the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus, was one of 22 young people selected to attend the World Council of Churches’ international dialogue centre, the Ecumenical Institute of Bossey Institute in Switzerland in July. Mr Gale participated in the inaugural Ecumenical Water Network Summer School on Water, not far from Lake Geneva. “The incredible bit for me was that a group of culturally, sexually, denominationally, vocationally and politically diverse young adults, who have an incredible passion to see water more equally shared, were able to come together and I was able to be a part of it,” said Mr Gale. “As a group we reflected on water and the ecumenical response to the global water crisis, especially issues of privatization, water management, water scarcity, gender and water, water rights and sanitation.”

The heads of intelligence agencies gathered in the New Zealand (NZ) capital of Wellington in August to hear from guest speaker and Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic Mr Patrick Walsh. Over 150 intelligence officers attended the inaugural conference of the New Zealand Institute of Intelligence Professionals. Mr Walsh, who addressed the intelligence officers after the conference was opened by NZ Prime Minister The Hon. Helen Clark, is a senior lecturer in criminal intelligence at CSU’s Australian Graduate School of Policing (AGSP) based in Manly, Sydney. He is also the course co-ordinator for the University’s intelligence program and  a vice-president of the Australian Institute of Professional Intelligence Officers (AIPIO). “It was an honour to address this inaugural event,” Mr Walsh said on his return to Australia. “I talked about the history of AIPIO as a professional body for the Australian intelligence community and the role tertiary education can play in collaboration with intelligence agencies in delivering industry-relevant intelligence education programs”

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic has called on the mediation community to consider that it now deserves the title of ‘a profession’. Associate Professor Anne Ardagh addressed the question ‘Is Mediation now a Profession?’ during her recent address to a dinner in Canberra to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Conflict Resolution Service (CRS) in the ACT. “Even though there is no one recognised path to becoming a mediator, mediators are becoming more educated through university and TAFE qualifications, and perhaps on quality assurance grounds the mediation community should embrace the idea that it now deserves the status of a profession,” said Professor Ardagh. The CSU academic believes mediation is at a stage that perhaps psychology or social work or counselling was at not so long ago.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) students are making the battle against obesity and eating disorders personal with a cooking competition to show healthy eating can be cheap as well as nutritious, quick, tasty and good looking. Three student groups – the Nutrition and Dietetics (or Nut) Club, the Social Workers Club and the Health Action Team – are gathering favourite student recipes for a recipe book, with the top 12 recipes entered into a cook-off competition to be held in October on the University’s Wagga Wagga Campus. A panel of local judges will name the winner of a $150 voucher for groceries. President of the Nut Club, Mr Kingsley Vance, hopes that initiatives like this will help the communities within CSU campuses – Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Dubbo, Orange and Wagga Wagga – to improve their food choices. “University students are often at risk of not eating a nutritious diet, so our competition is all about raising awareness of good nutrition in all our communities,” he said.

A call has gone out for the donation of books to establish a social work and social development library in Nepal ahead of an international conference there later this year. The International Consortium for Social Development (ICSD) will hold its Asia-Pacific branch conference in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, in November. “We would like practitioners, academics and students to donate one recent and relevant social work, social development or related text,” said ICSD Asia-Pacific president and Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Associate Professor Manohar Pawar.“As part of the Consortium’s commitment to development, education, research and practice in the region, the book project aims to improve access to books for those studying or working in social work and social development. Nepal is one of the least developed land-locked countries in the world. It has three schools of social work and their students would appreciate some concrete assistance.” For further information about the book project contact CSU lecturer Dr Lynelle Osburn losburn@csu.edu.au or Professor Pawar. mpawar@csu.edu.au

Before scientists from almost 40 countries, Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Emeritus Professor of Agriculture, Jim Pratley, was honoured for his significant contribution to the development of the science of allelopathy. The international award was presented to Professor Pratley during the fifth World Congress on Allelopathy in the USA in late September. The prestigious and competitive Molisch Award is presented every three years during the International Allelopathy Society’s conference to recognise research excellence and career contributions to the field of allelopathy, which is  the science of using a plant’s natural defense system to beat weed infestation.  Professor Pratley is a staff member at the E H Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation in Wagga Wagga, a collaborative alliance between CSU and the NSW Department of Primary Industries, and was a member of the recent conference’s organising committee and a past vice-president of the International Allelopathy Society. Professor Pratley is continuing his research into natural herbicides and weed management.

The ’rich heritage’ left for Charles Sturt University (CSU) by the first students enrolled in the Wagga Wagga Agricultural College in 1949 was acknowledged during a ceremony held at CSU at Wagga Wagga on Friday 24 October. Several of the inaugural students, known as ‘the 49ers’ gathered to honour their former classmate, the late Mr John Bowen. The University has honoured Mr Bowen by naming a student accommodation building John Bowen Hall. The 1912 building was used by the first group of students to attend the Wagga Wagga Agricultural College in 1949. Mr Bowen’s widow, Mrs June Bowen, and their son, Mr Ken Bowen, met with former agricultural students at the naming ceremony. Mr Bowen told the audience that his father, who lived on the NSW Central Coast, kept coming back to Wagga Wagga and “loved the college and the city”. Read more here.